Olaf Quantius

In his works, the artist Olaf Quantius focuses mostly on the unnoticed, on things that seem to be marginal as regards their existence or relevance. Barns, huts and sheds are motifs that occur regularly in his paintings: simple, ephemeral buildings that nevertheless fulfil an elementary need for warmth and protection. These huts are embedded in an undefined, unpeopled landscape, where the vegetation is merely suggested by abstract patches of colour. The backgrounds of silvery aluminium varnish or poured graduated paint however negate any concrete localisation and situate the motifs in a timeless space. Thus Quantius’ architectures attain an essential presence, which interplays with the titles of the work and raises questions about how we define our location and about our cultural identity.